Three casino operators sanctioned for child-friendly slots graphics
M88.com, Fun88 and Letou all have slot animations banned by the ASA after complaint from Fairer Gambling
Three online casino operators have been sanctioned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for using graphical content that would likely appeal to children.
Fun88, m88.com and Letou were all told certain slot graphics would appeal to under-18s and must not appear again in their current form.
The rulings stemmed from complaints from the Campaign for Fairer Gambling who highlighted several m88 slots as dangerous including Fairytale Legends Red Riding Hood and Fairytale Legends Hansel and Gretel.
The ASA ruled the two Fairytale slots, as well as slots title Fairies Forest, must not appear again in current form and that all future games should not appeal to under-18s.
The regulatory body considered that fairies were highly popular with young children and particularly young girls, and that the wolf in question resembled similar characters from films and TV programmes aimed at under-18s, in particular young children.
Mansion-owned m88.com has since modified the game graphics to exclude all images of fairies and other unsuitable characters after admitting the Fairytale games were displayed in demo mode to non-logged in users.
Operators Fun88 and Letou, shirt sponsors of Newcastle United and Swansea City respectively, also had six slots graphics banned for appealing to under-18s.
Feathered Frenzy Slot, Dragon’s Myth, Faeries Fortune, Castle Builder, Robyn and Santa Paws all had to remove child-friendly animations including graphics of a dragon, a pixie and a polar bear.
The UK Gambling Commission instructed more than 450 operators to remove all child-friendly content in October 2017 after it revealed 80% of children have been exposed to gambling adverts.